testimony before the house intelligence committee july 19 ...€¦ · testimony before the house...
TRANSCRIPT
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Testimony before the House Intelligence Committee
July 19, 2018
Chairman Nunes and Members of the Committee, my name is Jim Phillips. Thank
you for inviting me to appear here today. It is a rare privilege to have the
opportunity to comment to you on the importance of deep science
manufacturing, the constant threat of international cyber-warfare, especially
from China, ...the importance of proper immigration policy relative to attracting
and retaining in America our future Einstein’s and Wernher von Braun’s, and
restoring U.S. competitiveness quickly to revitalize our most important economic
engine of innovation.
I have had the opportunity to be involved in some of the most exciting
developments of the digital revolution that have transformed our every day lives.
By way of background I helped lead the teams that created and launched instant
messaging, the cable modem and resulting universal broadband, immersive
imaging —-the technology that makes virtual tours and augmented reality
possible, the eBay imaging system, the VeinViewer medical device, The FedEx
Institute of Technology, M2M-machine to machine wireless communications, and
many other now ubiquitous products used by millions worldwide.
I have the privilege to serve on several boards including the Herff College of
Engineering at the University of Memphis, the College of Engineering (TEES) at
Texas A&M University, the executive committee as a Member of the U.S. Council
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on Competitiveness, (which has been especially helpful in my report), The
President’s Material Science Genome, the US Technology Leadership Council, and
the US Manufacturing Initiative, ...to name a few.
I now serve as Chairman and CEO of NanoMech industries, a leading nano-
manufacturing firm and research company with hundreds of advanced material
science products used by many of the largest iconic customers in the world
especially in oil and gas, military, trucking, automotive, aerospace, marine, and
retail.
Nanomech is a highly innovative material science based nano-engineering
manufacturing firm, based in Northwest Arkansas, down the street from the likes
of Walmart, JB Hunt, and Tyson’s headquarters with a portfolio of international
award winning inventions and commercial products including breakthrough
innovations in machining and advanced manufacturing, lubrication and energy,
aerospace, biomedical implant coatings, and strategic military applications such
as the next generation US Army combat uniform. We are poised for continued
dramatic expansion of our manufacturing operations, revolutionary inventions
that join our fortress of over 3000 patents and claims, and growth throughout the
globe. The world runs on machines, and increasingly machines and industry
depend on NanoMech. All the problems left in manufacturing are at nanoscale,
and therefore all the solutions are at nanoscale as well.
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The United States is locked in a moon race with other major countries trying to
take the lead in materials, digital, and bio-science platforms via Nanoscale
engineering research, development and commercialization in what is sure to be
the next industrial revolution of progress. While these competitive countries lost
out, to an extent to the US in the information technology revolution, they are
determined to put enormous amounts of public and private capital to work to win
this even more important race in Nano-Engineering that undergirds many other
inventions such as Big Data/AI, electronic and autonomous vehicles, robotics, and
significant weaponization.
Given the monopolistic efforts of China alone to control all the worlds dwindling
resources, the US is now at a great risk of not having material and rare earth
metals that are core to our most important manufactured goods that are
essential to our daily lives. Nanoscale engineering is our greatest hope in
providing a way to do more with less materials in amazing and sustainable ways
to keep America secure as the world leader in commerce, technology, agriculture,
medicine, and defense.
MANUFACTURING TODAY
I take this opportunity to offer my perspective as an entrepreneur, innovator and
manufacturer. Much of manufacturing in the United States centers on higher
value – added activities that require highly skilled workers, unique knowledge
from innovators or sophisticated infrastructure. Other US manufacturers are in
sectors that require proximity to end-users due to transportation or other factors.
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Still other producers have unique quality assurance relationships with larger firms
or support America’s defense base.
Many manufacturing jobs remain unfilled simply because people with the right
skills are not available. That translates to 600,000 plus available US knowledge
jobs.
Not only are manufacturing and services independent, they are distributed
globally. For most of the 20th century, “Made in America“ meant just that: design,
development, fabrication, and associated transactions were performed in US
factories in offices by US workers. Today, many goods are no longer designed
produced and sold within a single country.
Instead, the activities needed to bring a product from concept to consumption is
routinely performed in different countries.
“To live well, a nation must produce well,” as concluded by the MIT Commission
on Industrial Productivity.
Some manufacturers believe the global competition has made them stronger,
more productive and more competitive. Gains in productivity and output,
however are not translating into broader economic gains for the United States.
The model of “invent it here, make it there,” is not working to advance the
economic interests and national security of the US. As Susan Berger, author of
Making in America has said, “the US production ecosystem system has been
hollowed out” over the past decade and we must rebuild it in order to feed our
engine of innovation.
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Furthermore, many US states and localities do too little to attract manufacturing
facilities, imposing complicated and time-consuming procedures on top of federal
rules to site and build production facilities. Permitting processes for a
manufacturing facility in the United States might take months, if not years,
whereas in some countries, the time required is merely a few weeks or less. This
while the trade deficit in advanced technology products continues to deepen as
high tech sectors of industry are doing better overseas than here.
Manufacturing also suffers from its public image. Many Americans still think
about manufacturing terms of product fabrication – – how many factories for the
transformation of materials and new products, basically, “bending metal“ in
operations that are easily sent elsewhere. However, manufacturing today is part
of a much more complex, high value added and tightly integrated global web of
science at its very best.
To make matters worse, the US high school system did away with our most
important Shop and Home Economics classes approximately 30 years ago
devastating our manufacturing work force where the great majority of the men
and women had attended classes designed to both teach and spur their interest,
enthusiasm and discovery of their accumen for science and engineering trades
and business leadership.
And the US abandoned this STEM based curriculum at one of the most critical
junctures at the rise of increased innovation platforms for manufacturing while
competitors in Germany, Russia, China, South Korea etc., were stepping up their
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curriculum for these science, chemistry and mechanical engineering studies to
increase their population’s skilled labor.
For these reasons, the US finds itself in a position where we must reboot our high
schools, Junior Colleges etc., to offer STEM curriculum ASAP. It is not too late! It is
just imperative that we go all out as a nation to preserve US technology
leadership. The Administration and Congress should sustain and extend the
network of advanced manufacturing hubs; support the establishment of a next
generation advanced computing ecosystem; and explore new ways to support
technology commercialization and entrepreneurship.
American leaders also must secure critical infrastructure from cyberattacks and
invest in the future of funding deep science research with accountability, but
competitive with other nations such as China.
NanoMech is a case of successful tech transfer and full commercialization from
the University of Arkansas. NanoMech has paid the University in excess of
$1,000,000.00 in royalties and now has capped royalty payments but has
provided the University with valuable “Phantom Stock” in NanoMech so the
University can participate in the future success of the spinoff corporation.
Consider, for example, Nanomech’s product platforms. We are developing cutting
edge technology that enables more efficient industrial processes, involving the
synthesis and structuring of functional and multifunctional materials at the
Nanoscale and microscale from what is referred to as the ground up, and
therefore can save billions of dollars across several industries while dramatically
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increasing performance, efficiency and sustainability. Basically creating a whole
new generation of materials that have improved properties and dramatically
increased accomplishment leading to atomically precise manufacturing. These
include:
• Lubricant Additives: We have developed Advanced nano – lubricant additives
(nGlide, AtomOil, AtomLube) that dramatically reduce friction for machines to the
point of near zero, and thus deliver extraordinary performance and energy
savings even leading to the birth of new types of machines. This work supports
multiple industrial sectors including superior operating heavy machinery, HD
Trucks, advanced machining, safer and more productive fracking, gas and oil,
automotive transportation, wind turbines, aerospace, military vehicles,
spaceships, marine shipping, and many others. Our nano-lubricants have even
proved themselves in the last four Indy 500 races in the winning car each year.
•Machining and Advanced Coatings:
Nanomech has developed the worlds most advanced coating for manufacturing
cutting tools (TuffTek) allowing them to cut up to 1000% longer with better
finishes that have never been attained before through nano-serrated edges, and
in ways that allow the creation of new types and far better machines. It is not only
an alternative for machining hardened steels and super strong lighter alloys such
as titanium, but it enhances productivity by orders of magnitude ushering in far
more advanced jet engines, and rockets, etc. Through this innovation, the
company has also developed strategic know-how in ultrafast coating of nano-
particles for various applications such as machining, wear resistant surfaces,
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eradicating corrosion, and resistance to the worst chemicals. In addition the
company has developed advanced paints that can survive the most hostile
conditions while providing faster drying, and maintaining the best in luster,
durability, safety, scuff and wear resistance, anti-microbial, and tolerance to UV.
Most importantly NanoMech has developed next generation coatings (GuardX) to
eradicate corrosion in many forms, whether sub-sea or surface, in the most
hostile conditions whether at point of manufacture, or stopping rust after it has
already begun on existing machines such as HD Trucking vital to American
commerce. Corrosion costs the U.S. over 3% of our GDP each year!
• Advanced Textiles:
Nanomech has developed advanced additives (nGUARD) for fabric, polymers, and
wood – polymer composites for delivering sustainability and security. For
example, NanoMech is currently providing a Nano-engineered, very safe, durable
and lightweight multifunctional fabric finish that is antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-
mold, anti-mosquito, fireproof, anti-bacterial, super-hydrophobic (waterproof),
and anti-odor, for the next generation U.S. Army combat uniforms and other
military applications. This new generation of fabric fiber treatment will also usher
in a new generation of better and safer textiles for consumers, outdoor sporting,
and athletic gear.
WINNING POLICY
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A broad array of government policies both foreign and domestic have important
impacts on the innovation and production process, from research funding to taxes
to market access. Presently US policies are not aligned with the full lifecycle
perspective of innovation that includes production of scale.
The policies, programs, strategies and business models that worked in the past
are inadequate to secure America’s future in the digital and Nano Age.
Government, business, labor and academic leaders must rethink and retool the
nation’s business environment to seize arising opportunities and address several
shortcomings. The leveling effects of globalization are diminishing the lost cost
advantages offered in emerging economies and potentially opening the door to
increase manufacturing in the United States.
Given the unbridled competion the U.S. faces from the likes of China Inc., and
others, who operate as a gigantic monopoly funneling massive government
capital and resources into a select one or a few state-run companies, without
regard to normal costs for good working conditions, healthcare, regulatory
including environmental regulations, etc., as opposed to the typical US
manufacturer, both small and large, competing in their own country against
scores of others, ...who find themselves at huge disadvantages building their
manufacturing companies from scratch, absorbing all up front costs including
developing IP, safeguarding it, dealing with massive regulatory, R&D, factory
design buildout to code, legal expense, and seeking and finding growth friendly
investment to drive the business and compensate a great management team.
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Structural Changes in the Global Economy Create Opportunities and Challenges
The global migration toward free enterprise and open markets is driving growth
and emerging economies. Several nations have rapidly developed into formidable
manufacturing competitors. Chinese manufacturing output, for example, is now
approaching that of the United States. As development spreads, a new consumer
class is burgeoning around the world. About 2 billion people occupy the consumer
class today. By 2030, this number could reach 5 billion, with 95% of the growth
occurring in emerging and developing economies – – creating large new demands
for manufactured goods.
US based operations must also compete with aggressive mercantilist policies from
foreign governments. Many countries have put in place policies and financial
incentives surpassing the U.S to attract investment, manufacturing facilities, for
intellectual property and talent while protecting domestic business interest.
The digital revolution and the pace of technological change also profoundly
impacts the way that business and production are organized. Digital technologies
have made many facets of the global economy nearly borderless. In an earlier era,
the location of natural resources often determine where manufacturing would
take place. In today’s economy, knowledge, know-how, technology, creativity
and capital are the most important resources for production, and they are highly
mobile. Put together, these trends – – emerging manufacturing nations, growing
consumer class, neo – mercantilist policies and revolutions in the digital internet
of things and other technologies driven by Nano and AI – create a hyper-
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competitive manufacturing environment. Not surprisingly, firms are growing more
sophisticated in their ability to react to these changes and, where possible,
leverage them to their advantage in the marketplace.
Global Firms are Becoming More Sophisticated and Re-calculating the Total Cost
of Production
Successful global firms must rely on their ability to react more rapidly than ever to
changes across the global marketplace. In the early stages of offshoring,
inefficient manufacturing operations were often relocated from higher cost
economies to low-cost labor economy is to maximize returns and insure that
products were price competitive.
With the new tax laws and reductions favoring manufacturing in the U.S., by this
Administration, fortunately for America, manufacturing in the United States is
beginning to turn more positive. Many firms are recalculating their total cost of
production to take in account these changing conditions and factors. Also, the
wage gap for example, between the US and key competitors is narrowing. Many
factors influence where companies invest in new manufacturing capacity,
including labor costs, supply networks, financial, tax, legal and regulatory systems,
access to skills and resources, speed to market, intellectual property protection
and market access.
The factors that might incentivize a return to or departure from US based
manufacturing will vary by firm and industry. Industries that rely on intellectual
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property or drawn to the strong protection offered by the US after experiencing
the challenge of piracy elsewhere. Other firms have found that long supply lines in
Asia add cost and reduce flexibility to serve customers in North America and
Europe. Still others seek access to cutting edge US automation and robotics
technology, albeit this area grows more competitive for the US by the hour.
Talent is perhaps the key drivers for manufacturing and National
Competitiveness.
The United States needs highly skilled workers to realize the productivity gains
essential to remain globally competitive. Yet current and anticipated human
capital deficiencies especially in deep science manufacturing exist across the
board. Not only are current openings for highly skilled workers challenging,
manufacturing workers are retiring at a much faster rate than they are being
replaced. The growing shortfalls represent a critical need for a wide range of skills
across many occupational cuts, from the most rudimentary to the most
sophisticated PhD level. Current and future realities command an
intergenerational approach toward developing homegrown talent.
Two of the biggest pressures on joblessness and job generation are the bookends
of the workforce: The would-be new entrants, 16–30-year-olds who need the
skills to take on increasingly complex tasks, and mature workers, 55 years and
older who are now the dominant demographic group in the workforce and
exploding in numbers. Mature workers will fuel over 90% of the increase in the US
labor market between now and 2025.
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Another major focus continues to be graduating more students with advanced
degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, (STEM) disciplines,
as well as improving STEM literacy in general. The US Department of Commerce
expects STEM occupations to grow 17% over the next several years compared
with 10% in other occupations. Based on trends and the arrival of new deep
science occupations, STEM jobs will continue to climb rapidly as new innovations
continue to flourish.
Current visa policies are reversing decades of openness to foreign scientific
excellence. Foreign nationals with advanced degrees from American institutions
are returning to their countries of origin and pursuing employment opportunities
unavailable to them in the United States. With them they take the skills and
knowledge necessary to create next generation goods and services, and reduce
American competitive advantage while increasing that of the country to which
they return. This after receiving the best University education in the world, often
subsidized by scholarships etc. No one disputes the need for safeguards and
assessments of foreign entrance, however a system that is transparent and
efficient and also offers fresh incentives for the best and brightest can offset
current obstacles. The US must pivot immediately to attract the best and
brightest students from around the globe and encourage them to stay in America
as they desire, by providing them a way through earning their advanced masters
and Phd degrees, a quicker path to citizenship with fair and effective vetting. To
do anything less will guarantee that the US loses its competitive position quickly
as the leading innovation nation. Moreover, the US needs to quickly invest more
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in providing more top STEM instructors and professors, drawing from the retiring
corporate practitioners who desire in mass to continue working and in this case
teach their trade, skills and scientific know-how to the next generation.
By opening more student seats in University STEM based curriculum, more
American born qualified students desiring to attend our great university system
will have the opportunity. Thus the US will have the best of both worlds, providing
STEM advanced education opportunities for both our home grown and also the
best and the brightest of foreign students desiring to matriculate in the US and
seek American citizenship where they will be free to apply their skill sets and
intellectual gifts in the best country with the most opportunities in the world,
growing our competitiveness and GDP through top talent.
Speaking of the gift of intellectual talent, one cannot forget the huge
disadvantage AMERICA has in population differential with just 5% of the world’s
population. It is often stated that one out of a million people is a genius. My
friend John Kao writes in his book China -The Next Innovation Nation, given
China’s massive population creates the world’s largest talent base as in with this
paradigm China therefore has over 1000 such geniuses. Now add in India, and so
on. America has built the best place to live through tremendous sacrifice and grit,
and to remain competitive in this numbers game population wise we must
continue to attract the best and brightest and welcome them into our melting
pot, albeit with effective and friendly vetting.
This will allow America’s technology and innovation capacity to remain among the
greatest in the world. America must leverage its edge in innovation technology in
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computing. In crucial fields like bio- technology, biomimicry, nano-technology,
material science and computing, US researchers and entrepreneurs define the
leading edge. American universities in research laboratories are unparalleled,
pushing the boundaries of knowledge in life, physical and social sciences. Despite
the nation’s budget wells, Congress must be reluctant to impose cuts to scientific
research funding that is viewed correctly as the engine of economic growth.
America remains the worlds largest investor in R&D albeit not as a percentage of
GDP, losing to Germany, South Korea and Japan in this category, but is among the
upper ranks in R&D investment as a share of GDP.
Lest we forget, in 1960, the United States accounted for more than 2/3 of global
R&D. Today, 2/3 of global R&D is performed somewhere other than the United
States. Although the more prosperous and innovative world is a welcome trend,
the shift has significant implications for US manufacturing and security interests.
America has long been the global leader in creating new, high value added goods
and services. That lead will undoubtedly narrow and the greater issue will become
whether Americans continue to develop and produce sufficient numbers of loyal
STEM educated talent and high margin “must have” products to sustain and
improve living standards and safeguard our national security with outstanding
GDP and innovation.
America Also Must Better Leverage It’s Entrepreneurial Enterprise
By combining innovation, entrepreneurism and risk capital, America has spawned
more globally recognized brands in more sectors then any other economy over
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the past several decades. This is a huge advantage over China when it comes to
brands. American brands are the most wanted products in China. This speaks
volumes about American quality and craftsmanship. The US entrepreneurial
enterprise is a critical advantage since as much as 1/3 of the difference in
economic performance among countries is attributed to the difference in their
levels of entrepreneurial activity. Highly skilled entrepreneurs and business start-
ups also create middle skill jobs though the number of new businesses has
declined significantly.
Consistent with other facets of the hyper competitive manufacturing
environment, many nations around the world – – plus states and localities – – are
working to narrow the US entrepreneurship advantage. They are creating tax
incentives, sovereign wealth funds, skilled immigration incentives, regional
innovation clusters and global collaboration forums with varying levels of success.
STRANDED
America must do more to enable entrepreneurs to take risks and to translate
ideas into innovation. America is still leaving ideas on the table as on average only
one in 10 US patents is ever commercialized. Thousands of inventions lie dormant
in the hands of universities, research centers and private companies. For those
ideas that are pursued commercially, only seven out of every 1000 business plans
receives even initial funding.
One of the United States biggest problems it faces in global competitiveness, is
it’s horrific weakness that exists at its tremendous Universities and outstanding
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National Laboratories in successfully accomplishing tech transfer and especially
commercialization of its R&D and resulting IP.
The tech transfer offices are staffed with wonderful, well meaning, hard working
people who unfortunately typically have no experience in entrepreneurship,
starting and running companies and for that matter....promotion.
The budget at a University for a football program may be in the $50-100MM
range, and perhaps even pays the football coach $30MM per year, (we all do love
football)...but the budget for one of the most promising sources of revenue and
future foundation funding, ...the lowly tech-transfer office, ...will be
comparatively minuscule.
Even though grants from NSF and NIH and many other agencies constantly funnel
millions into the University and Research Labs for R&D, the Chancellor’s and Lab
Directors are almost always left wondering why they don’t produce a Gator-Ade a
week! On closer examination, it is typical to find the disconnect is in the wrong
personnel without the necessary background managing the tech transfer office,
including with their somewhat meager budget, and very little IP support to help
convert far more of the scientific papers into patents and having a system in place
to move ideation to invention to productization to innovation to full scale
execution of advanced science fair projects being converted far more often into
start-up corporations that attract risk capital and employ knowledge workers and
turn great ideas into GDP and national security.
Worse yet this well-endowed research typically moves from science fair to
“publish or perish” for the professor or researcher, and unfortunately is then
handed to the Chinese or Russians free of charge on the internet. And then again
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as it is often cited, “what we don’t give away, is otherwise stolen through cyber
theft by these same international pirates!”
The Reality of China, Its Goals, Actions, and Our Call to Action
This is very, very serious, as Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup and author of The Coming
Jobs War says,... “A country’s GDP is the most important leading indicator. So as
goes it’s increase and decrease, so goes jobs, spending, tax base, and then
everything else. Unless there is a miracle, China will vastly exceed the GDP of the
United States in less than 30 years; 6 trillion compounding over 30 years at 10%
blows away 15 trillion compounding at 2% over the same period. At that point
China will have the new World – leading economy. China will be the new leader of
the free world, free or otherwise.“ “When the GDP lines cross, America’s reign as
economic leader of the world is over. So are the designations of “place with the
best jobs in the world“ and “leader of the free world“ because America will no
longer have a disproportionate financial advantage that gives it the moral,
economic, and the leadership authority it has now.”
“When and if that happens, America loses. The world changes, everything
changes. China may dominate the world. But it won’t have to use it’s military.
When it’s GDP surpasses Americas, it will dominate the world economically by a
margin far more than the United States currently has. At that point China will be
the new leader of the world. All decisions between countries on the subjects of
peace, trade, environment, borders, laws, and human rights would defer to China.
Because more than ever, the new golden rule applies: He who has the gold, rules.
And the country with the dominant GDP has the gold and the good jobs.”
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Michael Pillsbury’s book, The Hundred Year Marathon, excellently reveals China’s
secret strategy to supplant the United States as the world’s dominant power,
including its significant and very active cyberwarfare force, and China’s amazing
ability to mask its real identity-a Communist Military Dictatorship, is well
orchestrated in a costumed camouflage of capitalistic, free trade
entrepreneurship.
Reality Sets In For NanoMech
It is at this point that in my testimony, I report as a practitioner entrepreneur and
CEO of an American deep science manufacturer, that I report NanoMech, in all
our efforts to grow and prosper in the great American capitalistic system, has had
to face down China (and others) and its’ real threats and actions.
Not long ago the FBI showed up in force at NanoMech Industries headquarters to
report to us they had observed we were the 2nd most hit firewall by the Chinese
cyber-militia in the Southern U.S. while I suppose we could take this as a
compliment to our superior science and technology, we moved fast to squash this
attempt before it had a chance to succeed. The FBI were at NanoMech to help
proactively under the directive of the National Nanotechnology Initiative signed
into law by President George W. Bush to protect and promote the interests of
American nanoscience. The FBI brought in an expert within the FBI on China to
assist in how to confront these serious attempts at cyber-hacking we were
experiencing. We involved at significant cost, our IT firm and as fast as possible
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took many new precautions in addition to the double firewalls we had in place,
and since have added many more software and physical security provisions and
fortresses. We are told that the only way to be totally sure you are safe from
hacking by the Chinese and others, is to go off the grid with your most secret
proprietary property, in the form of log books using a certain method under
advanced lock and code. We have done so in certain cases to protect our most
secret inventions and research.
Through other courses by the FBI, related to our cyber security in our ISO:9000
certified factories and also remote offices we have had to take extraordinary
precautions and continue to stay current as the cyber-threats increase and
change in their tactics.
We have also been advised by our leading IP law firms to never file patents in
China as we globalize our IP portfolio. We are told by our top law firms that the
China patent system is corrupt.
Conclusion
It is time for America to lead. Some, even many perhaps, question whether
America has the resolve and resources to right its own ship, let alone lead a global
recovery in manufacturing. I believe steadfastly that the challenges are solvable
and the Americans and their leaders will summon the will to act decisively. That
action should start by correcting the macro challenge as outlined in this report – –
reducing the debt to sustainable levels, reducing the tax system and repairing
infrastructure as proposed by the Administration. Those steps alone, however,
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are not enough. America must also coalesce around a new vision focused on a
business model of innovation and leadership in high value added next generation
deep science manufacturing.
We must revisit the public private partnership‘s with our manufacturers in order
to compete effectively with the monopoly known as China Inc. The United States
has to have bolder ways to infuse capital into demonstratable successful deep
science manufacturers, who will be competing against state run monopolistic
China manufacturers that do not play by the rules whatsoever that the U.S.
companies adhere to. There must be ways put forth to expand our SBIR/STTR
programs to provide more capital timely to U.S. manufacturers that are
demonstrating innovation to commercialization excellence for game-changing
technologies and products that better the world, increase our GDP and national
security.
It may be time to revisit the federal Earmarks program or a modified version with
accountability, in order to compete against China and its unlimited investment
capital for startups that are operating on imitated and stolen IP, and have unfair
advantages too numerous and unsavory to name.
Most are predicting that more will be invented over the next Five years than in
the history of mankind. This is an inflection point of massive technology invention
acceleration caused by the relatively recent inventions of the chip, software,
storage, and the Internet. This tremendous supercycle of innovation commands
that America take action immediately to respond to the many challenges
presented by China or suffer the consequences.
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For more than 200 years, the United States has prospered because it is the home
for people from every nation who are drawn to freedom, confident in their
abilities to carve out a better life. That “can-do“ optimism for which America is
known is more than a cliché; it is a deep-seated cultural belief reinforced by
experience on battlefield and board rooms, in classrooms and laboratories… And
on the factory floor. It remains within America’s ability to make its future.
We must capitalize immediately on our great University system, our National
Labs, and tremendous agencies like the National Science foundation, to be sure
this unique and best in class Innovation ecosystem, is organized in a way that
promotes tech-transfer and commercialization in dramatic and laser focused ways
so that we capture the best ideas into patents quickly, that are easily transferred
into our capitalistic economy so that our Nation’s best ideas and inventions are
never left stranded, but instead accelerated to market at the speed of Innovation
so that we build good jobs and improve the quality of life and security for our
citizens faster and better than any other country on our planet. The American
Way.
Thank You!
James M. Phillips